Resume Basics

Received a few resumes from some youngsters. (When did I get so old? Oh God, am I The Old PA?! Nooooooo!) They were rife with rookie mistakes. I’ve said all these things on the blog before, but for those of you who might be too busy (i.e. lazy) to go back through the annals, here’s a summary of my email to them:

Delete your objectives. Nobody cares that you hope to someday achieve a meaningful career in entertainment.

Your resume should be a balance of text and blank space. Too much text, and you look boring. Too much blank space, and you look dumb.

Single-space between things that are similar and double-space between things that are not. (If you can’t figure out which of the two is appropriate… 1 1/2 space.)

You don’t need to tell me everything you’ve ever done at each job you’ve ever had. Only the things that pertain to THIS job.

Include something that’s unique – something that’s going to elicit a question in an interview. (For me, I list that I’m an Eagle Scout. It comes up as a question in nearly every interview I’ve been on.)

Make it a .doc or .pdf. Anything else and the person who’s hiring you won’t be able to open it.

who ru not anonymous too? ah…cool blog. sry i may ramble, but just how did you figure out what you wanted to do? i’m all over the place, which i found out, doesn’t have to be a bad thing, but then i go nowhere. read through the majority of the job list. i wish i could just meet the right people. i hatee resumes and cover letters.